Newsletter Issue #744: The Growing Stature of Apple TV

As some wonder just what new product categories Apple plans to enter in the coming year, assuming CEO Tim Cook keeps his oft-repeated promises, you wonder whether one of those products may already be there. But it is sort of flying below the radar, because Apple consigned it to hobby status.

But how can a gadget, with annual sales now hitting one billion dollars, be considered a hobby? A number of companies would only be delighted to receive that much revenue from most any product, and would praise the results to the skies.

Now Apple TV has surely become more mainstream in recent days, and now has a featured place on Apple’s online store, rather than being relegated to the accessory department. Based on the figures produced by Cook at last week’s Apple shareholders meeting, it’s been estimated that Apple sold 10 million units. I wonder, in passing, how many units Roku sold in the same year, or all years.